EMU's volleyball showed plenty of promise in Friday night's season-opening tri-match.  Despite splitting their two contests, the Royals gave their home fans a good taste of the exciting year they can expect from the young team.

Eastern Mennonite returns to the court tomorrow, hosting D-II Coker College at 6:00pm in Yoder Arena.

EMU 3, Bluefield 0
Featuring a lineup with just two returners among the six floor players, the Royals scored the first five points against Bluefield and never trailed to win the first set, 25-19.

The Rams jumped ahead in the second set, and the teams proceeded to trade runs and leads.  Finally a 9-1 spurt from Eastern Mennonite got them in front 19-15 en route to a 25-21 win.

Bluefield used an early run to grab a 14-10 lead in the third, but the men immediately responded with 10 straight points, including four on aces, to vault to a 20-14 cushion.  They coasted from there to a 25-20 final.

Eastern Mennonite dropped in 17 service aces in the sweep, their highest total since getting 19 against Cazenovia during the 2013 season.  Scott Brigham (Montpelier, Va./Patrick Henry) and William Ragland (North Chesterfield, Va./Thomas Dale) each had five, while Brigham led all players with 10 kills.

Travis Abele (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) added eight kills while freshman setter Christian Taylor (Henrico, Va./Deep Run) put up 27 assists.  Middle Dan Lutz (Greencastle, Pa./Greencastle-Antrim) had three blocks.

Alderson-Broaddus 3, EMU 2
In Friday's late match, the men tangled in tight battle with D-II Alderson Broaddus.  Neither team had a big run in the first set, which sat tied at 16-16.  The visitors then scored six straight to gain a decisive edge in a 25-19 final.

The Royals used a 9-2 run to get control of the second set, taking a 17-13 lead.  A kill from Lutz gave them set point at 24-21 before mistakes opened the door for five straight points for the Battlers in a 26-24 loss.

Defensive net play gave EMU the edge in the third, as they worked to a five-point lead to the finish line at 25-20.

The success steamrolled through the fourth, as the Royals ran out to a 15-6 cushion.  A few attack errors let Alderson Broaddus within four points before the men closed the set on a 7-1 run to win 25-15.

Eastern Mennonite tallied the first four points of the decisive set five but the Battlers slowly came back to tie the score at 11-11.  The men kept the edge at 13-11, and a kill from Abele let them serve for match point at 14-13.  But Alderson Broaddus got a kill to tie the score, and then used back-to-back blocks to steal the 16-14 clincher.

Brigham was the most consistent weapon for either side, hammering 26 kills to finish one off his career high.  He hit .362 from the outside and added five aces and six blocks.  Ragland led all players with six aces to go with 11 kills and 13 digs.

Taylor had 46 assists and Lutz had a match high eight blocks.  Micah Buller (Richmond, Va./Douglas Freeman) also had 13 digs.

Serving was again a strong point for the Royals, who had 12 aces compared to just two for Alderson Broaddus.

Coach Dominick Porter said it was tough to swallow a split even against tough competition: